LOTS of spin & uncertainty over this, still; local Dallas news reported this morning that a small grass-fire broke out 100km south of town around the time the fireball was sighted as well as possible reports of multiple objects.

On second review of the video, I now think that the velocity of the fireball looks faster than the normal apparent velocity of re-entering junk. I hope that someone is doing a trajectory analysis; there sure looks like there should be something recoverable regardless of the object's nature.

--------------------

A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.

I read somewhere one fireball-sized meteor falls every month on average.

With so many cams everywhere these days they are recorded more often, which is really cool. I think people will start to realize now that the Earth is like a car driving behind a truck loaded with gravel --you really value having a windshield between the exterior medium and you.

--------------------

"I can easily see still in my mind’s-eye the beautiful clusters of these berries as they appeared to me..., when I came upon an undiscovered bed of them... – the rich clusters drooping in the shade there and bluing all the ground" -- Thoreau

I don't think I mentioned this here but while I was on holiday in Egypt in early January and while sitting watching a (somewhat corny but nonetheless entertaining) "sound and light show" at the Temple of Karnak in Luxor there was a similar bolide that traversed a good 60 degrees of the western sky in what seemed like 10 seconds at the time but was probably closer to 2-3 seconds. It was almost identical to this fireball, didn't seem to me to be as fast as a typical meteor and noticeably flamed out right at the end. In terms of brightness it was dramatically brighter than Venus which was in more or less the same broad region of the sky at the time (near the crescent moon) so I could make a direct comparison while it happened (early evening about 7:45PM , so unusual for a meteor in my experience). I thought it was some pyrotechnic part of the show initially but the trajectory was too flat and at a suspicious angle for that and talking to others who had seen it from other parts of the town later that night it was certain that it was a meteor. I'd just taken a 30 second long exposure shot of the light show and temple and my camera was set up for a 15 second delay before its next shot so I missed what might have been a once in a lifetime shot of a really impressive meteor but in hindsight I'm just glad I saw something that impressive in the location that I did.

Comparing it to the video of this fireball - I'd say it was a bit smaller but not dramatically so and it had a much clearer tail that persisted for about 5 degrees behind it. I've seen one other large bolide before - at around midnight in August (I think) over southern Ireland sometime in the early 80's, which I seem to remember was bright enough to throw clear shadows which was extremely impressive although at the time I was too young to realize just how rare an event it was. It was definitely a major event as the local sea rescue team were alerted by a number of people who thought it was a distress flare - we found out the next day that it had been seen by many people within a range of about 60 miles of us and it finally dawned on us what it had been.

Anecdotes don't make good data or evidence but given that I've now seen two and I don't spend a lot of time staring at the sky I don't find it all hard to believe that this is a common enough event.

What was "unusual" about this one is that it was a daylight fireball, so it was REALLY bright (at least mag -10 IMHO), there seem to have been audible sonic booms, and there are indications that there may have been multiple events. Wouldn't be surpised if many people only saw it & the putative others because of the booms.

--------------------

A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.

I have seen three broad-daylight bolides in my life, and my first reaction was always, "Whoa...did I really see that?" On the first occasion, my dad was riding in the car next to me. Neither of us had said a word for several minutes beforehand, and it was several minutes after the bolide that I finally said to my dad, "Did you see that meteor?" He said he had seen it too, but was afraid to say anything at the time because he thought it was some age-related eyesight impairment! The most recent one I saw from a bus window, and it was on the news later that evening. In each case, I estimate them to have been brighter than the full moon as seen in daylight, which would make them brighter than mag -12.

It's fireball season. On 28th February, an approximately -20 mg bright one was seen from Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Well, not exactly seen, as most of the area was covered with thick clouds, but the short brightening to almost daylight was noticed everywhere. The media covered it many times over the next week, asking for video tapes and such, and interviewing (almost exclusively!) astronomers. (Nice break from the hype of the upcoming elections in Hungary...)

Here is the best recording so far, couldn't find it elsewhere like youtube, only at the Hungarian TV channel RTL Klub, so ignore the talk. Except where the two experts cheer. No meteorites found so far, most of it likely evaporated.http://www.rtlhirek.hu/video/84397

I had an impressive fireball experience last August myself. I was in cottage country a couple hundred kilometres north of Toronto, and was pointing out the Milky Way to a couple of friends, when a very bright green fireball zipped right across the part of the sky I was pointing at. (Without missing a beat, my buddy Jack said "Do that again".)

Two days later, Jack dropped me off at the Toronto Airport so that I could meet up with an old friend from the planetary science department at University of Western Ontario. When I finally managed to find him, one of the first things he said was "Did you see the fireball?". It turned out that he was the guy in charge of determining whether a search for meteorites should be launched, and that Jack and I were the closest known witnesses. (I had planned to meet up with this guy BEFORE seeing the fireball. Talk about your mind numbing coincidences.)

Anyways, it turned out that the fireball had been caught on video, and had an estimated magnitude of -14. This surprised me, as I would have thought it was less bright than the full Moon, maybe magnitude -8 or -9.

IMAGE COPYRIGHT
Images posted on UnmannedSpaceflight.com may be copyrighted.
Do not reproduce without permission. Read
here for further information on space images and copyright.

OPINIONS AND MODERATION
Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the
individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions
of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer
UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent
of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence
over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators.

SUPPORT THE FORUM
Unmannedspaceflight.com is a project of the Planetary Society
and is funded by donations from visitors and members. Help keep
this forum up and running by contributing
here.